Suella Braverman has insisted Rwanda is a safe country for migrants, despite evidence that 12 Congolese refugees were shot dead by police there in 2018.
When asked on BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme about the shootings, the home secretary said she was “not familiar” with the case.
The government plans to send some migrants to Rwanda if they arrive in the UK through illegal routes.
The High Court has found Rwanda to be safe, Ms Braverman said. But she acknowledged the plans were still facing a legal challenge. She also refused to commit to a date for achieving the government’s goal of stopping small boats crossing the Channel.
And it was notable that Ms Braverman would not repeat her previously stated hope of getting legal immigration under 100,000 a year – not least because there is tension in the cabinet over what is realistic.
Under the government’s proposals, people who arrive in the UK through illegal routes could be sent to Rwanda on a one-way ticket to claim asylum there. In December, the High Court ruled the plan was legal, but the decision is going through an appeals process.
Ms Braverman was asked about evidence from the United Nations refugee agency, dating from 2018, that a group of Congolese refugees were shot during protests over cuts to food rations.
After being shown a video of the aftermath, the home secretary said: “That might be 2018, we’re looking at 2023 and beyond.
“The High Court, senior expert judges, have looked into the detail of our arrangement with Rwanda and found it to be a safe country and found our arrangements to be lawful.”
She added that Rwanda has “a track record of successfully resettling and integrating people who are refugees or asylum seekers”.
The government’s legislation made provisions for individuals to challenge the decision to send them to Rwanda in “extreme circumstances” of “unforeseeable, serious and irreversible harm”, she said.
The Rwandan government has said the actions of the police in 2018 were a last resort and that there was violence at the protest. —BBC
